Scarred
by TheWayYouLoveMe
Summary: About how being taken hostage affects a 17 yr. old girl.
1. Chapter 1

Arabella sighed. "Okay, I'll do it. I don't know how, but I guess I have to if I want to live."

"That's exactly right, my dear. Now, hurry and get out your phone before I become too impatient," grunts the man behind the mask. Ara pulls out her cell phone and dials Damien's number. One ring, two, then a seventeen year old boy answers.

"Hey babe, what's up?" Damien says.

"I- I don't think we're going to work." Fear rose in her voice and tears rose to her eyes.

"Wha-What do you mean?"

"I'm breaking up with you."

"You're breaking up with me?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but why?"

"I don't love you. I can't be with someone I don't love." And at that, she hung up the phone. "I did it, I broke up with him. Will you please lower your gun now? Why did I need to do that anyway?" Her answer is sassy, but you can still hear the terror in her voice. But the masked man lowers his gun.

"Because I want to torture you. That's why." he answers, but you can hear the nerves on end in his answer.

________

Damien stares at the phone. _What just happened? _He asks himself. A single tear escapes and trickles down his cheek. The door to his room opens, and he wipes the tear from his face and turns around.

"Mom says 'come downstairs.' She wants to talk to you." his sister Emily says.

"Okay, I'll be down there in just a minute." Emily closes the door and goes back downstairs. Damien shoves his cell in his pocket, closes his book, and heads downstairs to meet his mother.

"You wanted to see me?" Damien asks.

"Yes. I wanted to discuss your skipping class. What's that all about?" Ms. Turner inquires.

"What skipping? I'd never skip class" he lies.

"Stop it, Damien. I got a call from your teacher today and he mentioned that you weren't there. I asked how many times he had been out this month and he said you had been out at least four times. That's once a week. You haven't been sick or taken out of school since you were fifteen." Her attitude grows impatient and angry.

"It won't happen again. I promise. The only reason I'd ever skip was to be with Ara, but now…" His voice trails off, remembering what happened just five minutes ago. Ms. Turner's face turns from anger to concern in a matter of seconds.

"Are you alright? Did she break up with you? What happened? Tell me sweetheart. I'm here to listen." she says, sympathetically.

"Five minutes ago. She called me and told me we were through and she didn't love me five minutes ago." At that, his breaking point, he starts to sob. He can't take it anymore. He loved her for fourteen months and it ends like this?

________

He has his finger on the trigger. He's going to put weight on it any second. She starts to cry. She had been so good up until now. She was so strong. She didn't shed a tear. But now, she's weeping. She can't stop crying. She thinks of all the people she loves and all the people that love her and she thinks of how sad they'll be when the police find her body. _If they find my body _she worries to herself. That is her worst fear: no one finding her to bury the body.

Suddenly, the door opens. Cops come in with guns.

"Drop your weapon!" one screams.

"Stop or I'll shoot'er!" my man in the mask threatens.

"Drop your weapon!" Frank walks in a bit late.

"Arabella! Are you okay?" Frank asks.

"I'm fi—" I try to respond before the masked maniac to my left tells me to shut up. I am fine. I'm pretty good for someone at point blank. It hasn't all really hit me yet. The scene must look terrible. There are papers spread about the floor. Drawers are left ajar. There's a huge blood stain on the floor but that's from where I punched him in the nose before he pulled out a gun and stuck it to my temple. My ankles were tied to the legs of my plain wooden desk chair. My hands were free though.

"You two know each other?" asked an officer.

"Yeah. She's an aspiring detective. I work with her at my summer classes." Frank responds. "Can we focus on the issue at hand rather than my personal life?"

"Please" Ara adds.

"Last chance, sir. I'm going to ask you once more to put down your weapon," says another cop. My masked maniac hesitates for a minute, then says,

"What's in it for me?"

"Less time in jail. Now, c'mon. Put it down. You don't want to do this. Put it down. You know you don't want to hurt an innocent seventeen year old girl." Frank eventually convinces my masked maniac to set down his gun in front of him. Frank then jerks forward and grabs the gun.

"Go." He shouts to his team. They run up to my man in the mask, grabbed him and cuffed the guy. Next, they came up to me and wrapped a blanket around my bare arms. I muttered a "thanks" and followed them outside to the police car. Arabella turned around to get a good look at the house she had been held in for only two hours before the cops arrived. She immediately recognized it as Jake Hill's house. She turns back around as soon as the cops take the mask off none other than her junior-year best friend, Jake Hill. The tears start rushing down her face.

"You?! You did this to me? And I thought you moved! I was devastated when you moved and you try to kill me?" She starts to think. All those little things he'd say to her are finally starting to make sense. When he told her he loved her, he had a sparkle in his eye. Now she knew he meant it. Now she knew that he loved (and still loves) her. When she started dating Damien, she should have seen the crazy jealousy in his eyes. She always knew Jake was a bit loony, but she thought it was the good kind of crazy. She never thought he'd go this far.


	2. Chapter 2

It's been a week. Every day she calls him. Every day he ignores it. She's becoming distressed. She doesn't know what to do, so she just cries. It's always been like this for her: feeling sad. But this time she has a reason. She used to always be sad when she was younger and there was never a reason why. She just was. You knew to stay away from her. She was usually pretty grouchy when she wanted to be, too. Even as a kid, she never really had many friends. She couldn't keep up with them. She was always tired. Her mother worries, but she's never done a thing to help her. She was always more concerned about getting a job or finding a new boyfriend. You see, Ara's dad had died when she was only three and her mother was never meant to be a mother at all, let alone a single mom. She wasn't neglected, per say, she was raised well, but her mother didn't provide the friend that she needed. She didn't know that there was something wrong with her daughter.

She tries calling again. Finally, he answers. "Stop calling me."

"Wait, please don't hang up!" Ara almost yells into the phone, relieved he answered at least.

"Fine. What do you want?"

"I wanted to apologize. That wasn't me who broke up with you. Well technically it was, but a girl can hardly be called herself when she's staring down the barrel of a gun."

"What?" Shock and disbelief appear in his voice.

"Do you remember the story in the news about an unnamed teenage girl who was taken hostage? Uhm, that was me."

"What are you okay? I'm so sorry for not answering your calls is there anythi—"

"Damien, sweetheart, everything's okay now. I'm fine. He's doing time. It's all going to be okay."

"Sorry. Can you ever forgive me for ignoring you?"

"Of course I can. I love you."

"Do you really mean that?"

She thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Good, because I love you too. And if you were here, I would definitely kiss you."

"And I would definitely let you." She laughed.

"Come meet me."

"Are you crazy? It's almost midnight!"

"Sneak out. I just want to be with you. When you called to break up with me, I was devastated. Here I was thinking you didn't want me anymore so I cried. Yes, cried. I love you that much. I just want to see you. Please."

"…Okay. Meet me under the bridge on Forest Garden. I'll be there in fifteen minutes. I love you. Bye."

"Love you too. Bye"

Arabella throws on a cute pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Then she sneaks down the stairs, past her parents' bedroom and out the back door. She walks the ten minutes briskly until she reaches the bridge. She hears voices. _Crud,_ she thinks to herself. _Stupid kids. They better get out of here before I call the cops! _She sneaks a peek underneath the bridge to find two teenage girls talking and giggling, most likely about boys. Girls these days.

"Get out of here! What are you thinking?" She hears a voice behind her say. She turns around and gives the voice a big hug and kiss.

"Damien!"

"Arabella! My girl! Oh, I've missed you so much! I know it's only been a week but I love you!"

"I love you too! You just about scared me half to death when you yelled from behind me. I swear I was seconds away from a heart attack!" She punches him playfully. Ara sits down then motions for Damien to join her. He does.

"So, tell me what happened. If you want to, that is. I don't want to push you into anything too soon."

"Honestly, I don't really remember what happened. It was all sort of a blur. A fairy tale of some sorts. But I'll tell you what I do remember. Well, I was waking home from babysitting the Johnson's. Someone came u behind me and shut my eyes and mouth so I couldn't scream. How I got to his house, though, is a mystery. I remember seeing a unicorn," she giggles, "is that helpful? Hah, well anyway we got to a house but I had no idea where we were because he blindfolded me with one of his ties—I could tell it was a tie because it had his cologne on it. I always hated that smell—but I could feel the stairs. Heck, I practically broke free tripping over one of them. So, we made it into his house and he took me to a room, locked the door, and took off the blindfold. He was wearing a ski mask so I had no idea that it was Jake—"

"Woah, Jake Hill?" He interrupted "As in junior year Jake? Your best friend that moved to Milwauke? That Jake?"

"Yes, that Jake. Only he lied about moving. He just started homeschooling. Now can I continue?"

"Hold up. You didn't tell me that it was Jake that did this to you."

"I didn't find it that important."

"Arabella. Yes it's important! Who wouldn't think it important?"

Tears brim her eyes, even though she knows it's ridiculous to get upset over something so simple. "I would." She says, voice cracking.

"Ara. Ara, baby, don't do this. I'm sorry. I didn't meant o offend you."

She says nothing but runs off, not wanting her boyfriend to see her cry over something so foolish. When she reaches her house, she opens the door wide and, forgetting what time it is, she slams the door closed, hard. By the time she realizes what she's done, she's at her bedroom door, hand on the knob, when she hears her name called.

"Coming Peter," she yells to her mother's fiancé of two years, trying to make her voice as quiet as possible hoping that her mom doesn't wake up. She makes her way down the stairs, dreading whatever punishment was to come. The last step arrives, and she lets out a big sigh.

"What are you thinking, sneaking out not more than a week after you're taken hostage by some crazy ex-boyfriend—"

"Ex-best friend" She corrects.

"Whatever. Either way, that was stupid. Just be glad your mother didn't wake up after you slammed the door like that. I'm going to let you off, but just this one time. It's obvious that you're a bit shaken from the whole ordeal so I'm just guessing you had to go talk about it to one of you girlfriends or something. Just please ask next time. I'll take you somewhere were I can see you but I'll let you have your privacy. I just don't want to lose you again, honey." His voice becomes sincere and loving.

"I'm sorry, Peter. Goodnight. And thanks for letting me off. You're right. I just needed to talk." Something is wrong here. The problem is that she didn't need to talk. Everything has been going great. She isn't shaken up at all. That's just it. She should be freaking out, but nothing's changed. It doesn't even seem real. It never happened. Peter brought up a good point.


End file.
